Radio comedy

Radio comedy, or comedicradio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve sitcom elements, sketches and various types of comedy found on other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some simple dialogue.

Interest in radio comedy and radio drama is currently enjoying a resurgence. Epguides.com, which provides encyclopedic information on television shows, has recently begun to build a similar list of radio shows.[1]

In America, new groups have formed to try to bring about a renewed interest in the art-form. At the forefront of this new wave of audio-only comedic groups is Peeper Radio Theatre. Veteran NPRProducerJoe Bevilacqua is creating new radio comedy for The Comedy-O-Rama Hour, which airs on XM Satellite Radio's Sonic Theater Channel 163, five times per week. In the UK, recent standup and revue comedy performances are also now receiving airing on radio.[2]

1.
Comedy
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In a modern sense, comedy refers to any discourse or work generally intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, television, film, and stand-up comedy. The origins of the term are found in Ancient Greece, in the Athenian democracy, the public opinion of voters was influenced by the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theaters. The theatrical genre of Greek comedy can be described as a performance which pits two groups or societies against each other in an amusing agon or conflict. Northrop Frye depicted these two opposing sides as a Society of Youth and a Society of the Old, a revised view characterizes the essential agon of comedy as a struggle between a relatively powerless youth and the societal conventions that pose obstacles to his hopes. Satire and political satire use comedy to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, parody subverts popular genres and forms, critiquing those forms without necessarily condemning them. Similarly scatological humour, sexual humour, and race humour create comedy by violating social conventions or taboos in comic ways, a comedy of manners typically takes as its subject a particular part of society and uses humor to parody or satirize the behaviour and mannerisms of its members. Romantic comedy is a genre that depicts burgeoning romance in humorous terms. The adjective comic, which means that which relates to comedy is, in modern usage. Of this, the word came into usage through the Latin comoedia and Italian commedia and has, over time. The Greeks and Romans confined their use of the comedy to descriptions of stage-plays with happy endings. Aristotle defined comedy as an imitation of men worse than the average, however, the characters portrayed in comedies were not worse than average in every way, only insofar as they are Ridiculous, which is a species of the Ugly. The Ridiculous may be defined as a mistake or deformity not productive of pain or harm to others, the mask, for instance, in the Middle Ages, the term expanded to include narrative poems with happy endings. It is in this sense that Dante used the term in the title of his poem, as time progressed, the word came more and more to be associated with any sort of performance intended to cause laughter. During the Middle Ages, the comedy became synonymous with satire. They disassociated comedy from Greek dramatic representation and instead identified it with Arabic poetic themes and forms and they viewed comedy as simply the art of reprehension, and made no reference to light and cheerful events, or to the troubling beginnings and happy endings associated with classical Greek comedy. After the Latin translations of the 12th century, the term gained a more general meaning in medieval literature. Starting from 425 BCE, Aristophanes, a playwright and satirical author of the Ancient Greek Theater wrote 40 comedies,11 of which survive. Aristophanes developed his type of comedy from the satyr plays

2.
Jerry Colonna (entertainer)
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Uttered after many an old joke, although it usually had nothing to do with the joke. The line was believed to be named for violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, Colonna played a range of nitwitted characters, the best-remembered of which was a moronic professor. Nachman wrote, Colonna brought a touch to Hopes show. In a typical exchange, Hope asks, Professor, did you plant the bomb in the embassy like I told you, to which Colonna replied, in that whooping five-alarm voice, Embassy. Great Scott, I thought you said NBC, during the 1930s, Colonna played with the CBS house orchestra, the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, and developed a reputation for prankishness. His off-stage antics were so calamitous that CBS nearly fired him on more than one occasion, Fred Allen, then on CBS, gave Colonna periodic guest slots, and a decade later he joined the John Scott Trotter band on Bing Crosbys Kraft Music Hall. In an opera parody, Colonna hollered an aria in a deadpan screech that became his trademark on Bob Hopes show, Colonna was one of three memorable 1940s Kraft Music Hall discoveries. The others were pianist-comedian Victor Borge and Trotters drummer, music depreciationist Spike Jones, Colonna had the ability to stretch a syllable to extreme lengths. In addition to songs, he worked this bit into Road to Rio along with another of his catchphrases, the action periodically cuts to a cavalry riding to the rescue of Bing and Bob. At one point he exhorts his riders, Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge, at the end of the film, when all is resolved and he is still charging, he pulls up and tells the audience, Well, what do you know. Colonnas usual salutation to Hope was, Greetings, Gate. Colonna was part of several of Hopes early USO tours during the 1940s. Jack Bennys singing sidekick Dennis Day, a talented impressionist as well as a singer, did an imitation of Colonnas manic style. Colonna joined ASCAP in 1956, his credits include At Dusk, I Came to Say Goodbye, Sleighbells in the Sky. In the 1950s he released two LPs, Music. for Screaming. and He Sings and Swings. Colonna featured in three of the popular Hope-Crosby Road films, Road to Singapore as Achilles Bombassa, Road to Rio as a Cavalry captain and The Road to Hong Kong in a cameo role. He can also be seen in the Fred Allen vehicle, Its in the Bag. as psychiatrist Dr. Greenglass, in 1956 he performed the featured song My Lucky Charm in the film Meet Me in Las Vegas, starring Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse. Colonna left the Hope show as a regular in 1950, but he continued appearing with Hope on holiday television specials and he hosted his own television comedy series, The Jerry Colonna Show, which lasted a single season. He was host of the Revenge with Music episode on The Colgate Comedy Hour in 1954, mann in Dont Look a Gift Horse in the Mouth, a 1966 episode of The Monkees

3.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown

4.
Stoopnagle and Budd
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Stoopnagle and Budd were a popular radio comedy team of the 1930s, who are sometimes cited as forerunners of the Bob and Ray style of radio comedy. Along with Raymond Knight, they were radios first satirists, musician Wilbur Budd Hulick and former broker-lumberman Frederick Chase Taylor were both announcers at Buffalo station WMAK in 1930. The great-grandson of British-born Aaron Lovecraft of Rochester, New York, Hulick and Taylor came together as a team when a transmitter failure kept the station from receiving the scheduled network program. To prevent dead air, they delivered a barrage of spontaneous, Hulick called Taylor Colonel Stoopnagle while Taylor played I Love Coffee, I Love Tea and other selections on the organ. The audience responded with so much enthusiasm that the duos goofiness became a feature on WMAK. Amid much network hoopla, they were heard on The Gloomchasers, spouting Spoonerisms, Taylor became known under the full name Colonel Lemuel Q. Stoopnagle as the partners appeared in different formats on CBS, creating a variety of voices for their crazy characters, addlepated antics. The announcer on their early 1930s shows was Louis Dean, for many years a rumor circulated that novelist Robert Bloch was a scriptwriter for the program, but Bloch stated that he only sold the team a few gags shortly after he graduated from high school. The public finally saw them in action when Paramount released International House, the duo also appeared in Fleischer Studioss Screen Songs cartoon Stoopnocracy, released on August 18,1933 in which they appeared in a live-action segment in the middle of the cartoon. They also filmed a comedy for Educational Pictures in 1934, The Inventors, in which they show a college class how to assemble a Stoopenstein. Stoopnagle & Budd also appeared in a musical comedy for Vitaphone, Sky Symphony. The partners went separate ways after The Minute Men on the NBC Blue Network, neither Taylor nor Hulick ever commented on the separation and did not disclose the reasons for the split. Hulick became a radio game-show emcee, hosting Whats My Name, music and Manners and Quizzer Baseball for the Mutual radio network before returning to local Buffalo radio stations. Stoopnagle stage name, Taylor appeared in comedy shorts and whimsical radio programs. After a comedy series with Donald Dickson on the Yankee Network, Taylor was a summer substitute for Fred Allen on Town Hall Tonight in 1938. NBC president Pat Weaver recalled how the two used to come into my office and, while we talked, lick my supply of stamps, one after another. There was a knack to it that I never mastered, by the end of the summer my ceiling was virtually papered with stamps. Taylor had four published under the name of Colonel Stoopnagle, including, You Wouldnt Know Me from Adam Father Goosenagle, Nonsense

5.
CBS
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time

6.
Fred Allen
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Roosevelt and novelists William Faulkner, John Steinbeck and Herman Wouk. Allen was honored with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for contributions to television, John Florence Sullivan was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Irish Catholic parents. Allen barely knew his mother, Cecilia Herlihy Sullivan, who died of pneumonia when he was not quite three years old and his father was so shattered by his mothers death that, according to Allen, he drank more heavily. Eventually, Allens father remarried and offered his sons the choice between coming with him and his new wife or staying with Aunt Lizzie, Allens younger brother chose to go with their father, but Allen decided to stay with his aunt. I never regretted it, he wrote, Allen took piano lessons as a boy, his father having brought an Emerson upright along when they moved in with his aunt. He learned exactly two songs – Hiawatha and Pitter, Patter, Little Raindrops – and would be asked to play half or all my repertoire when visitors came to the house. He also worked at the Boston Public Library, where he discovered a book about the origin, enduring various upheavals at home, Allen also took up juggling while learning as much as possible about comedy. Some library co-workers planned to put on a show and asked him to do a bit of juggling and some of his comedy. When a girl in the crowd told him, Youre crazy to keep working here at the library, you ought to go on stage, in 1914 at the age of 20 he took a job with a local piano company, in addition to his library work. Eventually he became Freddy James, often billing himself as the worlds worst juggler, Allen refined the mix of his deliberately clumsy juggling and the standard jokes and one-liners, directing much of the humor at his own poor juggling abilities. During a ten-year world tour, his vaudeville act evolved towards more monologue comedy, the Allen came from Edgar Allen, a booker for the Fox theaters. In 1922, Allen commissioned comic-strip artist Martin Branner to cover a theater curtain with a mural painting depicting a cemetery with a punchline on each gravestone. This was the Old Joke Cemetery, where overworked gags go to die, in Allens act, the audiences would see the curtain before Allen made his entrance. Audiences typically would be laughing at the curtain before Allen even appeared, Robert Taylors biography of Allen includes an impressive full-length photo of Branners curtain painting, and many of the punchlines are clearly legible in the photo. Allen used a variety of gimmicks in his act, from a ventriloquist dummy to juggling to singing, but the focus was always on his comedy. One recurring bit was to read a letter from home with material such as the following, The man next door has bought pigs. Your father had a fight with him about it. It didnt bother your father, he is deaf in that ear

7.
Jack Benny
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Jack Benny was an American comedian, vaudevillian, radio, television and film actor, and violinist. Recognized as a leading American entertainer of the 20th century, Benny portrayed his character as a miser, in character, he would claim to be 39 years of age, regardless of his actual age. Benny was known for comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a pregnant pause or a single expression and his radio and television programs, popular from the 1930s to the 1970s, were a major influence on the sitcom genre. Benny was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Waukegan and he was the son of Meyer Kubelsky and Emma Sachs Kubelsky. Meyer was an owner and later a haberdasher who had immigrated to America from Poland. Benny began studying violin, an instrument that became his trademark, at the age of 6 and he loved the instrument, but hated practice. His music teacher was Otto Graham Sr. a neighbor and father of Otto Graham of NFL fame, at 14, Benny was playing in dance bands and his high school orchestra. He was a dreamer and poor at his studies, and was expelled from high school. He did poorly in business school later and at attempts to join his fathers business, at age 17, he began playing the violin in local vaudeville theaters for $7.50 a week. He was joined by Ned Miller, a composer and singer. In 1911, Benny was playing in the theater as the young Marx Brothers. Minnie, their mother, enjoyed Bennys violin playing and invited him to accompany her boys in their act, Bennys parents refused to let their son go on the road at 17, but it was the beginning of his long friendship with the Marx Brothers, especially Zeppo Marx. The next year, Benny formed a musical duo with pianist Cora Folsom Salisbury. This provoked famous violinist Jan Kubelik, who feared that the young vaudevillian with a name would damage his reputation. Under legal pressure, Benjamin Kubelsky agreed to change his name to Ben K. Benny, when Salisbury left the act, Benny found a new pianist, Lyman Woods, and renamed the act From Grand Opera to Ragtime. They worked together for five years and slowly integrated comedy elements into the show and they reached the Palace Theater, the Mecca of Vaudeville, and did not do well. Benny left show business briefly in 1917 to join the United States Navy during World War I, and often entertained the troops with his violin playing. One evening, his performance was booed by the troops, so with prompting from fellow sailor and actor Pat OBrien, he ad-libbed his way out of the jam

8.
Bob Hope
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Bob Hope KBE, KC*SG, KSS was an American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, centenarian and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 feature films and short films, in addition to hosting the Academy Awards 19 times, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of 14 books. The song Thanks for the Memory is widely regarded as Hopes signature tune, born in Eltham, Kent, Hope arrived in America with his family at the age of four and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He began his career in business in the early 1920s, initially on stage. He was praised for his timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes. He also appeared in numerous specials for NBC television, starting in 1950, Hope participated in the sports of golf and boxing and owned a small stake in his hometown baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. He died at age 100 at his home in Toluca Lake, Hope was born in Eltham, Kent the fifth of seven sons. They married in April 1891 and lived at 12 Greenwood Street in Barry, before moving to Whitehall, Bristol, and then St George, Bristol. In 1908, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia and passed through Ellis Island on March 30,1908, before moving to Cleveland, from age 12, Hope earned pocket money by busking, singing, dancing, and performing comedy. He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin, for a time, he attended the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. As an adult, he donated sizable sums of money to the institution, Hope had a brief career as a boxer in 1919, fighting under the name Packy East. He had three wins and one loss and participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life, Hope worked as a butchers assistant and a lineman in his teens and early twenties. Hope also had a stint at Chandler Motor Car Company. Deciding on a business career, he and his girlfriend signed up for dancing lessons. Encouraged after they performed in an engagement at a club, Hope formed a partnership with Lloyd Durbin. Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw them perform in 1925 and found work with a touring troupe called Hurleys Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with George Byrne, Hope and Byrne had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well and danced and sang while wearing blackface before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself. In 1929, Hope informally changed his first name to Bob, in one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman

9.
Red Skelton
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Richard Bernard Red Skelton was an American entertainer. He was best known for his radio and television acts between 1937 and 1971, and as host of the television program The Red Skelton Show. Skelton began developing his comedic and pantomime skills from the age of 10 and he then spent time on a showboat, worked the burlesque circuit, then entered into vaudeville in 1934. The Doughnut Dunkers, a sketch of how different people ate doughnuts written by Skelton and his wife launched a career for him in vaudeville, in radio. Skeltons radio career began in 1937 with a guest appearance on The Fleischmanns Yeast Hour which led to his becoming the host of Avalon Time in 1938. He became the host of The Raleigh Cigarette Program in 1941 where many of his characters were created and had a regularly scheduled radio program until 1957. Skelton made his debut in 1938 alongside Ginger Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks. He was most eager to work in television, even when the medium was in its infancy, the Red Skelton Show made its television premiere on September 30,1951, on NBC. By 1954, Skeltons program moved to CBS, where it was expanded to one hour, despite high ratings, his television show was cancelled by CBS in 1970 as the network believed more youth-oriented programs were needed to attract younger viewers and their spending power. Skelton moved his program to NBC, where he completed his last year with a regularly scheduled show in 1971. After he no longer had a program, Skeltons time was spent making up to 125 personal appearances a year. Skeltons artwork of clowns remained a hobby until 1964 when his wife, Georgia, sales of his originals were successful and Skelton also sold prints and lithographs of them, earning $2.5 million yearly on lithograph sales. At the time of his death, his art dealer believed that Skelton had earned money through his paintings than from his television work. Skelton believed his lifes work was to make people laugh, he wanted to be known as a clown because he defined it as being able to do everything and he had a 70-year career as a performer and entertained three generations of Americans during this time. Born on July 18,1913, in Vincennes, Indiana, Richard Skelton was the fourth and youngest son of Ida Mae, Joseph, a grocer, died two months before Richard was born, he had once been a clown with the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. During Skeltons lifetime there was some dispute about the year of his birth, author Wesley Hyatt suggests that since he began working at such an early age, Skelton may have claimed he was older than he actually was in order to gain employment. Because of the loss of his father, Skelton went to work as early as the age of seven, selling newspapers and doing odd jobs to help his family. He quickly learned the newsboys patter and would keep it up until a prospective buyer bought a copy of the paper just to quiet him, when the man asked Skelton what events were going on in town, Skelton suggested he see the new show in town

10.
Monitor (NBC Radio)
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Monitor was an American weekend radio program broadcast from June 12,1955, until January 26,1975. Airing live and nationwide on the NBC Radio Network, it aired beginning Saturday morning at 8am. However, after the first few months, the weekend broadcast was shortened when the midnight-to-dawn hours were dropped since few NBC stations carried it. The program offered a mix of news, sports, comedy, variety, music, celebrity interviews. Monitor and the Sunday-afternoon TV documentary series Wide Wide World were Weavers last two contributions to NBC, as he left the network within a year of Monitors premiere. It was described by one source as a loop made from a sequence of 1950s AT&T telephone line switching tones generated by analog oscillators. The Beacon introduced the show and was used in transitions, for example, to station breaks, accompanied by the tag line, when Monitor began on June 12,1955 at 4pm, the first hour of the program was simulcast on NBC-TV. That initial June 12 broadcast lasted eight hours, from 4pm through 12 midnight, following the Monitor beacon, Morgan Beatty was the first voice ever heard on Monitor. It was the first of many jazz remotes in the weeks to come, on the following Saturday, June 18, Monitor began broadcasting 40 consecutive hours each weekend, from 8am on Saturday to midnight on Sunday. Monitor aired from a mammoth NBC studio called Radio Central, created especially for the program, built at a cost of $150,000 the glass-enclosed studios of Radio Central were described by Pat Weaver as a listening post of the world. From Radio Central, anchors and hosts, initially dubbed communicators, as well-known entertainment and broadcasting figures, they gave Monitor an impressive marquee. In later years Don Imus, Murray the K, Robert W. Morgan and Wolfman Jack helmed the Saturday evening segment until it was eliminated, the last hosts of Monitor in 1975 were Big Wilson and John Bartholomew Tucker. Behind the scenes, Monitors executive producers included Jim Fleming, Frank Papp, Al Capstaff, remote segments originating from locations around the country were a regular part of Monitor, setting it apart from studio-bound broadcasts and taking advantage of network radios reach. A weekend might include reports from a festival in Tucson, a championship in North Carolina, NBCs correspondent in Moscow, or on preparations for the Olympic Games in Melbourne. Regular segments included Celebrity Chef, Ring Around the World, on-the-spot live remote broadcasts from New York City jazz clubs on Saturday evenings included both jazz groups and vocalists, such as Al Hibbler. In the shows years, weather reports were delivered in a breathy. Fran Koltun, Sandy Koufax, Bill Mazer, Lindsey Nelson, Kyle Rote, Gene Shalit, Jim Simpson, Barbara Walters, Tony Zappone and many NBC News correspondents. Many comedy talents appeared through the years including Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, Selma Diamond, Phyllis Diller, Bob Hope, Ernie Kovacs, Bob Newhart, Jean Shepherd and Jonathan Winters

The old-time radio era, sometimes referred to as the Golden Age of Radio, was an era of radio programming in the United …

Boy learning how to build his own radio circa 1922.

Rehearsal for the World War II radio show You Can't Do Business with Hitler with John Flynn and Virginia Moore. This series of programs, broadcast at least once weekly by more than 790 radio stations in America, was written and produced by the radio section of the Office of War Information (OWI).

The front cover of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, a collection of the five books in the series written before Adams's death, a leatherbound volume published in the United States by Portland House, a division of Random House, in 1997

Flyer for the 1979 stage production at the ICA of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Adam Pope playing Zaphod in an amateur production of HHGTTG by Prudhoe's Really Youthful Theatre Company